Gas turbine engines are generally space-restricted based on the apparatus in which they operate (e.g., fixed wing or rotary wing aircraft propulsion, auxiliary power units, land or marine vehicle propulsion, missile propulsion, etc.). Certain gas turbine engines may be more space-restricted than others, such as to limit or eliminate radial or axial protrusions or non-axisymmetric features.
For example, for small gas turbine engines (e.g., those producing approximately 500 shaft horsepower or less), practical considerations of component size and cost become limiting on components such as fuel injectors. Dimensions such as fuel passage size and metering orifice areas on the liner may become too small to allow practical manufacturing tolerances and, as such, become prone to plugging, clogging, or other obstructions that may deteriorate performance, efficiency, operability, or increase maintenance and operating cost, or result in overall combustor and engine failure. Additionally, as unit cost of a fuel injector does not become substantially less as the injector gets smaller, multiple fuel injector designs undesirably become a major limiting factor in achieving cost targets for small gas turbine engines.
A known solution for small gas turbine engines is a single can combustor with a single fuel injector large enough to have practical manufacturing dimensions and tolerances. However, known can combustors provide radial and/or axial protrusions of the combustor from an otherwise axisymmetric device, thus undesirably increasing radial and/or axial dimensions of the engine. Furthermore, known combustors may include radially and/or axially protruding ducting that is required to direct air from an annular compressor exit to the cylindrical can combustor.
As such, there is a need for a gas turbine engine that provides improved gas turbine engine radial and/or axial packaging.